Two Tone Paint /Masking

[Olderisbetter]

When you acrylic laquer rattlecan 2 tone paint, how long to you wait  after the first color to dry, before you mask off for the second color?

[Greg Pugh]

Depends on your humidity levels and thickness of paint.

[Lunajammer]

The safe, general rule I've always heard and what I follow for any paint is no less than 48hrs. I know the humidity in Thailand can be oppressive and can effect dry times, but I assume you'll be drying in climate controlled indoors.

Edited November 24, 2015 by Lunajammer

[astroracer]

Two days should be safe. Once you have your second color masked off make sure ALL of your egdes are pressed down tight THEN spray a light coat of clear to seal the edges. Any seepage under the tape will be clear and that will go away when you shoot the final clear coats.

Mark

Edited November 24, 2015 by astroracer

[StevenGuthmiller]

Also, make sure you're careful of the type of masking tape you use.

Regular bargain basement masking tape can cause all sorts of problems depending upon conditions.

I personally use Tamiya masking tape for paint lines & then fill in with masking paper & blue painters tape.

Tamiya tape will give you a nice sharp line but the adhesive is not so tacky as to pull paint off.

I've had regular masking tape do everything from pulling off paint to not coming off at all if it gets damp & is not removed promptly enough.

& yes, there are other types of tapes that work as well as Tamiya, that's just what I use.

 

Steve

[High octane]

Steven, I use the old tan colored masking tape from 3-M like we had back-in-the- day and it works just fine.

[Lunajammer]

My primary masking arsenal; BMF, Tamiya and 3M masking tapes of a couple different widths. Oh and cellophane for broad areas.

[Olderisbetter]

Thanks for all the tips guys. Yes, it is hot & humid here in Thailand. , but the paint is locally made and I think mixed for these conditions. Good quality too, I might add and only about $1.30 a can. However that's the only bargain to be found in the hobby here...LOL>

[StevenGuthmiller]

Steven, I use the old tan colored masking tape from 3-M like we had back-in-the- day and it works just fine.

That's fine Nick, use what works for you.

Personally, I've had so many ruined projects because of basic masking tape, that I will no longer let it touch my paint jobs.

I use 3-M tape as well for certain applications, but not on bodies.

 

Steve

[Miatatom]

The only tape I'll use for paint lines is 3M vinyl tape. It's pricey but works perfectly. The key word is vinyl.

Edited November 26, 2015 by Miatatom

[charlie8575]

I agree, 1-2 days is the absolute minimum before I'd even consider attempting overcoating with  a different color. 

For masking, I use 3-M blue tape, and have had pretty good luck with it. I also tried the Testors tape in narrow width for a very narrow strip I needed to mask. Excellent stuff, as long as you don't need wider than 1/4". I have some Tamiya, and I suspect the Testors is very similar, but that's the wide width, and I'm curious to see how well it works. 

Charlie Larkin

[Miatatom]

Charlie is correct IMHO. The 3-M blue vinyl tape is super. They had 1/4" and 1/8". I got the 1/4". Not too wide to lay down nicely on some curves. You might have to cut the 1/4" some if you're doing really sharp curves though.

[peteski]

I used to use regular masking tape (mostly 3M blue). I tried the special blue vinyl 3M tape but I found it too stiff for complex masking on a small model. Then I found Tamiya tape and that is what I exclusively use for any fine masking. I still use the other masking tapes but only to fill the larger areas which are bordered by Tamiya-taped areas.  Tamiya tape is very thin and very flexible and stretches easily. The adhesive is also very good - not too aggressive and very tight (paint doesn't creep under it).